Chapter 1363 Belief

The twins returned to the Zhou residence, and figuring that their younger sisters must be accompanying their grandmother, the two brothers headed straight for the main courtyard.

Zhulan was telling stories to her granddaughters. At first, she only told them. Li and others came to listen and didn't leave. This time, Zhulan told positive little stories. There were too many idiom stories, and if they were expanded, they would become good stories.

The twins came in and interrupted the story. Zhulan was tired of talking and drank her tea. "That's all for today."

Yudie and the others looked as if they had not heard enough, and even Li and the others wanted to continue listening.

Zhu Lan moistened her throat and asked, "I heard from your second aunt that you and Mr. Liu went out. Aren't you coming back too early?"

After Jiang Ping greeted everyone one by one, he sat down on the chair and said, "Grandma, Second Young Master Liu is even more cunning than Second Uncle said."

Jiang An nodded, "We ordered a pot of tea, but there was only one pot of tea without any snacks. It was such a small pot of tea to be shared by three people, and the tea had no taste. It's amazing that we can endure until now."

Fortunately, Mr. Liu had the shamelessness to not order the cheapest tea, otherwise, they would have returned even earlier.

Zhulan was amused, "This Liu family is quite interesting."

Jiang Ping was silent. "If you only look at his painful expression, it's really interesting."

Zhao couldn't help but smile with her handkerchief. Even though her husband had refused, the Liu family just wouldn't give up.

Li blinked her eyes, "Is the Liu family having a hard time?"

Zhu Lan shook her head, "The Liu family is very wealthy. I heard from Chang Yi that when the Liu family's ancestors were ordinary people, there were disasters, famine, and drought year after year. After life got better, the Liu family set a family rule to be frugal, and gradually some people started to be stingy."

What can the Liu family say? Anyway, don’t talk about money as a friend. It’s embarrassing to talk about money. The Liu family would rather have no friends. This is also a kind of realm.

The twins' eyes widened. Jiang An said, "It's a little bit exaggerated. It's really exaggerated."

Zhu Lan smiled and said, "Only a few are very stubborn, the others are pretty normal."

Yudie blinked, "This guy is so stingy, what if he finds a woman who can spend money?"

For example, she is very lavish with her money. She always carries a lot of bags with her when she goes out, and she never brings back any money she brings out!

Zhao was happy. Yes, if the Liu family didn't give up, the girl's ability to spend money could also make them give up.

Zhulan looked at Yudie, "Who would know this?"

The next day, at the city gate of Zhangzhou, the Tongzhi looked at the extra sheds and felt impressed by the prince's thoughtfulness. Just one word was exchanged for so many cotton-padded clothes.

As the Tongzhi walked along, he clearly felt the lost expressions of the girls in several sheds. He thought to himself that if the prince had not wanted to fish in more sheds, he would have planned to set off for Beijing tomorrow. Now that he had supplies that didn't cost any money, the prince decided to stay for a few more days.

Zhou Shuren and the prince left Zhangzhou City to visit the nearby villages.

They did not look closely, but walked farther away. The collapsed houses in the nearby villages had been cleared, but the distant villages were still unattended. The villagers had all fled to the provincial capital, and only a few families remained in the villages. The village seemed particularly quiet, and if it were not for the rising smoke, one would have thought it was a deserted village.

The prince got off the carriage and walked along a trampled path into the village. "Houses are very important to the people."

Zhou Shuren, "Well, a house is one of the most important assets."

The prince sighed, "It would cost a lot of money for the people to rebuild their houses by themselves."

"Your Highness, please ask the villagers."

So don't rely on your own ideas and think that it will cost a lot of money. Even if the prince lowers his standards, it is still out of reach for the common people.

"Uncle is right."

Lord Yan looked sideways when he heard the title, he actually overlooked the fact that Zhou Shuren had a connection with the royal family.

The prince did not continue speaking. They walked to a house that was lighting a fire to prepare a meal. The door was closed. The mountain was blocked by heavy snow, and the beasts on the mountain would come down the mountain if they were extremely hungry.

They saw traces of wolves on the road along the way, but there were too many of them and the wolves were smart and didn't show up.

The guards called out a few times, but the room remained silent. After a while, a man with a bent back came out. When he saw Zhou Shuren and the others, his eyes were filled with fear, and he trembled as he asked, "Sir, why are you calling me?"

Zhou Shuren was silent. If he had not chosen the path of imperial examination in ancient times, he would have been extra careful when facing the officials.

The prince stepped forward and said, "Don't be afraid. We are officials from the prefecture. We are here today to check on the disaster situation. We want to get some information from you, our fellow villager."

The man felt the kindness. As they seldom dealt with officials, they were very sensitive. They felt relieved and didn't dare to offend anyone. They slowly opened the door and said, "It's cold outside. I'll go and boil some hot water to warm myself up."

The prince said, "Don't bother, fellow countryman. We'll just ask and leave."

Hanzi: "Well, sit in that room."

The room was a low adobe house, and it was dim inside. The prince was accustomed to the brightness brought by glass windows, so he was a little uncomfortable with it.

He had been traveling around the capital, and he had never entered a farmer's house. This was the first time.

The prince looked around the room. There was a repaired table with repaired legs. There were five chairs in total, three of which had been repaired. The man went out for a while and soon came back with hot water. There were only a few bowls in total, which should be the only intact bowls in the house.

The man said nervously, "We don't have anything good to offer you at home, only hot water."

Tea is not something people like them can afford. Even if they could afford it, they would not buy it. Instead of spending the money on tea, they would rather buy more food.

The prince motioned for the fellow to sit down, "Don't bother, fellow. We are not cold."

The man didn't dare to sit down, "No, no, I'm used to standing. If you have any questions, just ask directly."

Zhou Shuren sat on the chair. Poverty alleviation in modern times has to be done slowly, not to mention in ancient times. Poverty alleviation in ancient times was extremely difficult. Zhangzhou was indeed poor, but not the poorest. He knew best the tax revenue of each state.

The things in this family's house were shabby, but from the smell of cooking, it could be seen that this family had some wealth, otherwise they would not have stayed in the village but would have fled with the others.

Although the man was shivering from the cold, he still had an old cotton coat to wear.

In truly poor states, it is not an exaggeration at all, it is difficult for a family to have a set of warm cotton clothes, and they can't even have enough food to eat. If the food problem is not solved, there is no need to talk about clothes. There are also countless ignorant and bad habits.

He thought about helping the poor, but then stopped thinking about it. Zhangzhou used some of the money for disaster relief, but didn't dare to touch the rest because it was close to the capital.

In the states far away from the capital, the money is sent there and is stripped away layer by layer. Those with a conscience can leave more for the people, but those without a conscience, haha.

After the prince had asked his questions, he signaled his guards to carry some food and two cotton-padded clothes down from the carriage, one for each farmer left in the village.

The man was stunned when he saw the food and cotton clothes. When he realized it, the carriage had already left. He then knelt down excitedly.

The prince felt bad, "The people are in trouble."

Zhou Shuren hummed, "But I believe that life will get better and better."

There were stars in the prince's eyes, "Yeah."

Zhou Shuren's smile deepened; the purpose of this trip was successfully accomplished.